election – The National Wildlife Federation Bloghttp://blog.nwf.org
The National Wildlife Federation's blogFri, 16 Feb 2018 20:07:40 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4139259312States Take the Lead on Climatehttp://blog.nwf.org/2017/12/states-take-the-lead-on-climate/
http://blog.nwf.org/2017/12/states-take-the-lead-on-climate/#respondMon, 11 Dec 2017 20:00:10 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=132207After the wave of elections in early November, it is clear that states are ready and willing to take the lead in protecting wildlife and people from the threat of climate change. In Virginia, hours after election results demonstrated a strong win for Governor-elect Ralph Northam and other candidates supporting climate action, state regulators released a major new proposal to reduce the state’s carbon pollution by 30 percent by 2030.

Virginia’s proposal would pave the way for the state to link with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). RGGI is a cooperative effort among nine eastern states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a regional cap-and trade program that includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. RGGI has resulted in remarkable pollution reductions and a revenue source for states.

Likewise in New Jersey, a new governor was elected on a platform that promised to have the Garden State re-join RGGI. Governor-elect Phil Murphy pledged to meet reduction targets through a massive commitment to clean energy.

RGGI currently covers 1 out 6 Americans, and 20 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). Along with California, which also has a carbon pricing system, New Jersey and Virginia’s participation in RGGI would result in just under 1 in 3 Americans living in state’s with ambitious carbon pricing policy designed to mitigate climate change.

Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay is already feeling the impacts of rising sea levels and warmer water temperatures, which are also making the bay and its many tributaries susceptible to harmful algal blooms — a threat to both people and wildlife. These changes are altering the abundance and migration patterns of wildlife in the bay, leading to declines in waterfowl and commercially important shellfish. The shellfish aquaculture industry in the bay generates $45 million for Virginia annually and a changing climate threatens this critical production.

Baby loggerhead sea turtles. Photo credit: USGS

Virginia’s beaches and coastal waters also support five of the seven sea turtle species found worldwide. Every year between 5,000 and 10,000 sea turtles swim up the Chesapeake. These turtles are mostly the threatened loggerhead and endangered Kemp’s ridley, which depend on the bay for food and safety. The loggerhead sea turtle also depends on the bay’s sandy beaches and dunes for nesting habitat. As the sea level rises and extreme weather events occur more frequently, these nesting habitats are being washed away.

New Jersey Steps Back Into Climate Action

The election in New Jersey tells a similar story — climate action is a winning platform. Newly elected Governor Murphy campaigned on a goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2050. He plans to reach this goal by re-joining RGGI, aggressively building out solar, and deploying 3,500 megawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

This shift to clean energy is of critical importance in a state that is already seeing the impacts of climate change on its communities and wildlife. New Jersey has 127 miles of coastline bordering the Atlantic, and nearly 1,800 miles of estuarine shoreline bordering the Delaware Bay and its offshoots. Delaware Bay has the largest population of horseshoe crabs in the country. But these prehistoric-looking critters are experiencing more frequent and severe Atlantic storms — a result of climate change. These storms are eroding the beaches that the crabs need to lay their eggs. Migrating shorebirds like the red knot and semipalmated sandpiper depend on horseshoe crab eggs as a food source during their long migrations. Furthermore, climate change is altering when the crabs lay their eggs, increasing the risk that migrating birds will miss their window of opportunity and go hungry.

Horseshoe crab

The same beaches and coastal marshes that provide habitat to shorebirds and horseshoe crabs also create a protective buffer for coastal communities that have been increasingly suffering the impacts of flooding and sea level rise. Like Virginia, New Jersey has the potential to be a national leader in climate resilience and carbon reductions.

Forward in the States, Backward in the White House

The moves towards climate action in the Virginia and New Jersey elections are in stark contrast to the backpedaling underway in the Trump administration. After a summer and fall of unprecedented storms and megafires, the administration has doubled down on relentlessly rolling back climate safeguards like the Clean Power Plan — the first ever federal measure to limit carbon pollution from power plants — and is planning to withdraw the U.S. from the international Paris Agreement. As a result, the U.S. will be the only country in the world not participating in this global climate effort to keep emissions at safe levels.

With this backwards approach, states are stepping up and answering the demands of the American people. A 2017 poll shows that 68 percent of Americans want the U.S. to lead global efforts to slow climate change, and candidates are running campaigns that reflect this growing demand.

Delaware Bay birds. Photo credit: Alberto VO5

State, city, and business leaders have shown continued climate leadership. This month, the UN’s international climate conference in Bonn, Germany was packed with the largest unofficial #WeAreStillIn U.S. delegation to ever attend, in spite of the U.S. having no official pavilion. The attendees included leaders from 14 U.S. states that cover half of U.S. emissions and massive corporations like Walmart and Citi.

Wildlife can’t wait for climate action. The recent events in Virginia, New Jersey, and Germany give hope that states and other non-federal actors will continue to lead on climate action. But, state action alone is not enough. To achieve the pace and scale of carbon reductions needed to avoid catastrophic warming requires federal action. Right now, leadership in Washington needs to come from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.

Please tell your congressmen and women that it is time to push for economy-wide carbon reductions across the U.S.!

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2017/12/states-take-the-lead-on-climate/feed/0132207Beyond Politics: Important Decisions for Wildlife Conservationhttp://blog.nwf.org/2016/11/beyond-politics-important-decisions-for-wildlife-conservation/
http://blog.nwf.org/2016/11/beyond-politics-important-decisions-for-wildlife-conservation/#commentsWed, 02 Nov 2016 18:25:17 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=124024The next President and Congress face important decisions for wildlife conservation. Already, nearly one out of every three U.S. species are considered at-risk, and many wildlife populations are in decline. Unless action is taken soon on the following conservation challenges, many of these animals could reach a tipping point.

Confronting Climate Change

A warming world stresses wildlife and their habitat. We’ve recently witnessed severe forest fires, floods, droughts, habitat shifts, heat waves, sea level rise and ocean acidification. Our elected officials must come together and support a positive, proactive climate agenda that protects your family and wildlife. This includes:

Reducing carbon pollution that contributes to climate change by supporting new EPA rules to limit carbon pollution from power plants, and assigning a price to carbon emissions, the most efficient and effective market-based policy to curb pollution.

Reforming federal fossil-fuel leasing to account for greenhouse gases and the wildlife-related impacts of extraction.

Funding Wildlife Recovery

We need funding to help wildlife like lynx. Photo by USDA Forest Service

State wildlife agencies have identified some 12,000 species that are in need of conservation efforts. Unfortunately, most funds available to states for wildlife recovery (fees related to hunting and fishing) fall short of protecting these species. Newly proposed bipartisan legislation — the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act — would dedicate $1.3 billion from federal oil and gas revenues to state wildlife agencies to address this funding gap. If passed by Congress, the new funds could help prevent thousands of species from being listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act — a huge payoff.

Safeguarding Public Lands

Public lands support wildlife like bison

Americans share ownership of approximately 600 million acres of land and water, but your public lands are under constant attack by private interests. In just the last three years, members of Congress filed at least 44 bills or amendments to undercut protections for our parks and public lands. Our leaders will need to fight these privatization schemes and improve public land management by:

Making sure the U.S. Forest Service is fully funded for habitat restoration. Right now the agency must spend more than a third of its annual budget fighting wildfires, leaving little for this critical work.

Designating new conservation areas to protect lands vulnerable to development.

Balancing oil and gas leasing, mining and other extractive industries against the need to safeguard wildlife and local economies. This will involve finalizing reforms of the federal coal-leasing program to fully account for the costs to wildlife, as well as considering whether to phase out federal subsidies for oil drilling, mining and other extractive activities on public lands.

Ensuring Clean Water

Fish, wildlife and our families have a critical need for clean, abundant water. Yet, wetlands throughout our nation are vanishing: lead recently contaminated the water supply in Flint, Michigan, algal blooms forced Toledo, Ohio, to temporarily shut down its water supply, and algal slime now plagues parts of coastal Florida. It’s clear that investing in our nation’s water resources is vital. Yet a new Clean Water Rule that would protect 20 million acres of wetlands and 2 million stream miles is in legal limbo at the Supreme Court, and awaits implementation by the next President.

Conserving Native Grasslands

Meadowlarks are one of the many grassland birds. Photo by Raymond Dion, National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant

Scientists warn that grassland birds and other species in the northern Great Plains are reaching a tipping point as thousands of acres of native prairie — one of the fastest declining ecosystems in North America — continue to be converted to cropland. This is due in part to the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires growing corn for ethanol. The next Administration will need to decide how much corn should be mandated. Congress also will need to reauthorize the Farm Bill, an opportunity to eliminate incentives that encourage plowing up native grasslands and strengthen incentives farmers have for saving grasslands on their property.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2016/11/beyond-politics-important-decisions-for-wildlife-conservation/feed/1124024Poll – Keystone XL Pummeled by Clean Energyhttp://blog.nwf.org/2012/11/poll-keystone-xl-pummeled-by-clean-energy/
http://blog.nwf.org/2012/11/poll-keystone-xl-pummeled-by-clean-energy/#commentsWed, 14 Nov 2012 16:07:35 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=70614National Wildlife Federation released results of a Zogby commissioned poll covering several climate and energy issues. The poll, done just after the election, finds support for Keystone XL was dwarfed by voters’ desire for expanded renewable energy investments. Support for Keystone barely broke out of the single digits.

With protests this weekend against Keystone XL in the nation’s capital, the poll shows that the President has a mandate to fight climate disruption. Keystone XL takes the fight to slow climate change in the wrong direction.

Support for dirty fuel from Keystone XL is dwarfed by support for clean energy. Last year, thousands protested at the White House to urge the Administration to abandon Keystone XL. Another action is set for this weekend in Washington, DC.

Asked to pick the highest priority to help solve America’s energy challenges, twice as many voters select renewable energy like wind and solar power (38 percent) than any other choice. Independents favor wind and solar over fossil fuels by a 4-to-1 margin – 48 percent pick renewable energy while just 12 percent select the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and only 11 percent prioritize more oil and gas drilling on America’s public lands.

Voters also expressed frustration with polluter influence peddling. Two thirds of voters (67 percent) say they’re very or somewhat concerned that political donations by oil, gas and coal industries are influencing politicians in Washington to approve policies that benefit their corporations.

That’s right folks, Keystone XL barely gets out of single digits, while support for clean renewable energy is two to four times higher.

The Keystone XL carbon bomb has been said to be the pollution equivalent of putting six million additional cars on the road. The pipeline is designed to carry tar sands, a dirty heavy oil that is far more polluting. At a time when President Obama says need to be reducing carbon pollution, Keystone XL takes us exactly in the wrong direction.

The poll of 1,016 actual voters was conducted on November 7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.

Superstorm Sandy a Wake Up Call

Hurricane Sandy couldn’t have made it clearer that society will continue to pay a high price for gorging on carbon. After a summer’s worth of unprecedented devastating heat and weather related events that will costs billions, Sandy’s the latest high priced wake up call from Mother Nature, estimated to cost us tens of billions. Economically, we cannot afford to further accelerate the already alarming pace of debilitating weather events. Morally, we cannot leave our children an inhospitable world.

You cannot build Keystone XL and be serious about addressing climate change. The math doesn’t add up. EPA says the lifetime carbon pollution emissions would be over 1 billion tons, and another estimate says it’s the equivalent of putting six million additional cars on the road.

The Keystone XL pipeline presents a choice. Get serious about climate, or double down on high carbon tars sands for decades. A final denial of the project would send a clear signal that we are turning away from climate calamity and towards a clean energy future. Allowing it would further ignite the climate bomb. The American public is demanding climate action and rejecting the fossil fuel industry’s well financed plea for business as usual. It is time for the Obama Administration to say no to Keystone XL and yes to a clean energy future for our children.

Americans gave hope for a brighter future for wildlife by electing a President and Senate-majoritywho acknowledge the unfolding climate crisis, and have stated their intentions to lead America towards reducing carbon pollution and conserving wildlife habitats.

The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to the East Coast was a strong reminder of the action needed to combat the impacts to wildlife of climate-fueled disasters by addressing climate change and protecting wildlife habitat.

The superstorm destroyed communities and wildlife habitats–including crucial habitats for piping plovers and many other shorebirds.

Wildlife Supporters Making a Difference

Wildlife advocates like you pledged to “vote for wildlife” when you went to the polls and made sure that your friends voted as well.

You urged the candidates and presidential debate moderators to ask about climate before the elections, and kept the pressure on to make the connection between superstorm Sandy and the increasingly frequent and devastating extreme weather that scientists see worsening because of climate change.

In key states where conservation-champions were in tight races, supporters of the NWF Action Fund, the political wing of NWF, helped get our message into the media, air TV ads, and get voters to the polls. That support made the difference between winning and losing.

The success of candidates endorsed by the NWF Action Fund shows that the financial resources of Big Polluters are no match against strong grassroots support for candidates who are on the right side of important conservation issues.

Successes for Wildlife

What does the election mean for wildlife?

Climate Change

When it comes to climate change–the greatest threat to wildlife today–if President Obama’s campaign acts on his statements about our warming planet, we can look forward to continuing to tackle pollution from power plants. Right now, we are working with the Obama Administration to finalize limits on carbon pollution from new power plants and now have the opportunity to push for pollution limits on the biggest single source of carbon pollution in the country–our nation’s already-existing power plants.

Tar Sands

The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline was a big loser. In race after race including in Florida where Senator Bill Nelson was victorious, Senators opposing Keystone were rewarded by voters. We are now counting on President Obama to reject the pipeline that would set us in the wrong direction climate change.

Federal Budget

We must reach a fair and balanced budget. Voters sent conservation champions to Congress who will help make sure future budgets do not further endanger wildlife with deep and disproportionate cuts to conservation programs that have already faced damaging cuts. These investments are small–less than 1 percent of all federal spending–and deliver huge benefits to wildlife by keeping our waters clean and taking care of public lands where our panthers, bison, wolves and polar bears live.

Clean Water Act

With the strong leaders in the Environmental Protection Agency continuing their work, river otters and fish across our nation have hope that our small streams and rivers that have lost the protection of the Clean Water Act will once again be safeguarded from destruction and pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies can also continue their efforts to restore the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay, the Mississippi River Delta and other cherished waterways.

What Happens Next

Exactly what happens next depends on whether Democrats and Republicans will work together to make progress on the important conservation issues facing America–and whether the GOP decides to return to the party’s Teddy Roosevelt conservation roots.

The election should be a wake-up call for any politician who doesn’t have a responsible plan for conservation, particularly on the heels of superstorm Sandy. Along with the extreme droughts and wildfires of the past summer, Sandy has not only increased the urgency of tackling climate change, but also thrust the environment back into the spotlight.

Winning More Fights for Wildlife

The devastating impacts of Hurricane Sandy are the latest in a long string of extreme weather events fueled by climate change that continue to threaten our wildlife. This year alone, record wildfires in the west forced moose to flee their burning mountain habitats and extreme droughts left many black bears searching desperately for food.

Now that the elections are over, it’s up to us make sure our elected leaders will take action to get critical policies passed to protect these and many more wildlife from climate change–before it’s too late.

It might not be easy–and we know Big Polluters and special interests will be a strong opponent–but together we can win more critical fights against Big Polluters and continue to create a brighter future for plovers, moose and black bears.

This Tuesday, November 6th is Election Day, and it’s up to us to show Big Polluters their money is no match for millions of Americans who have the power to elect leaders that will stand up and defend our wildlife and natural resources. If you have already voted, thank you! If you haven’t, here’s what you need to know before you head to the polls.

Ready, Set, Vote!

Voting for wildlife-friendly candidates is bigger than any one race on November 6th. It means looking at your ballot before you go to the polls, researching candidates’ positions on key issues for wildlife, and making sure you have a plan to vote in person on November 6th or by absentee ballot.

In addition to voting for pro-wildlife candidates, residents in a number of states will have the opportunity to vote forballot initiatives that have potential to shape the future of our wildlife and wild places. For example, residents of Michigan can vote YES on proposal 3 to help more of the state’s energy come from renewable sources such as wind and solar.

Studies have shown that people are more likely to vote if they hear that their friends and neighbors will be voting, too. So please encourage your friends and family to vote, and make sure they have rides to the polls!

Defeat Big Polluters at the Polls

This past July, I saw record fires blaze through communities near my home in Colorado and severe droughts leave local black bears desperate for food. And just last week, Hurricane Sandy devastated not only communities across the East Coast, but also wildlife–crossing more than one hundred National Wildlife Refuges and destroying crucial habitat for imperiled piping plovers and many more shorebirds.

By researching candidates’ positions and voting, people like us who care about wildlife and vote can fight back against Big Polluters whose reckless behavior is increasingly putting wildlife in harm’s way.

Please SHARE with your friends to make this the largest voter turnout for wildlife ever!

Whatever happens on November 6th, the tragic scenes unfolding across the 19 states impacted by Superstorm Sandy have realigned American politics when it comes to climate change.

The road to Election Day has gone from sarcastic remarks in Tampa, to two debate moderators apologizing for not asking the climate change question, to Republican standard bearer Gov. Chris Christie touring his devastated home state with President Obama, to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg penning an op-ed declaring that action on climate change is the central electoral issue.

Pundits like Politico’s Mike Allen have now given voice to what many strategists are already saying. Sandy and climate change may have changed the campaign’s ultimate outcome.

Sandy has also brought into focus that politicians risk their well-being when the impacts of climate change are ignored. The year 2012 has seen record drought throughout the Midwest, heat waves scalding our cities, the nation’s largest outbreak of West Nile Virus and wildfires torching homes and millions of acres. All of these events hit the electorate at the personal level impacting families, property and communities.

Poll after poll has shown the public awaking to climate change’s role in exacerbating and accelerating all of these impacts. Combined with the steady and expanding stream of images of Sandy’s destruction, these impacts and events take the nation to Katrina 2.0. So whatever the outcome next Tuesday, the person sitting in the Oval Office will have to act to address the unfolding climate crisis because we all know the next extreme weather event is just around the corner.

Before you vote next week, you can send a message to the candidates that you want them to talk about climate change and protect wildlife. Take action here.

Rising sea levels will not only affect Florida–where the debate is being held–but nations across the globe. Worsened floods in low-lying nations, droughts in arid regions and other natural disasters will lead to new conflicts over refugees and resources, calling for U.S. support and resources.

Dangerous Omission of “Climate Change” in Debates

One cannot easily talk about energy and foreign policy without using the words “carbon pollution” or “climate change”, yet that is exactly what the candidates, debate moderators and media have managed to do up to this point.

Voters Petition Bob Schieffer to Ask About Climate

Noting the threat of climate change to ecosystems around the globe, over 22,400 supporters of the National Wildlife Federation signed a pledge urging Bob Schieffer, host of Face the Nation and tonight”s debate moderator, to ask the candidates to speak to climate change during the final presidential debate. These voters want to hear the candidates address climate change, signing the petition saying:

Now is the time to answer the questions that are critical to our nation’s role in the international community and critical to me: what are the presidential candidates’ plans to tackle climate change for the sake of my family, our wildlife and future generations?

Addressing climate change is a global issue and speaks to values all of us hold– leaving our children an environment and world that is better off than we inherited.

This summer’s extreme weather harmed our nation’s communities, crops and wildlife–and mirror crises happening across the globe. They are a poignant warning that these problems and impacts will escalate in the future unless we begin to tackle the climate change crisis.

Mr. Schieffer, please take this seriously the implications of climate change to our nation’s foreign policy by prompting the candidates to address climate in their remarks during the final presidential debate.

Be a Voice for Wildlife Across the Globe

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2012/10/debate-must-not-avoid-flood-of-climate-impacts/feed/069028Turn Spotlight on Climate in Debateshttp://blog.nwf.org/2012/10/turn-up-the-spotlight-on-climate-for-polar-bears/
http://blog.nwf.org/2012/10/turn-up-the-spotlight-on-climate-for-polar-bears/#commentsWed, 17 Oct 2012 16:54:15 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=68306Last night at the presidential debate, the moderator did not allow an undecided voter with concerns about climate change to ask a question–despite carbon pollution being central to the lengthy exchange between the candidates during the debate on which fossil fuel and renewable energy sources they support and an important issue to undecided voters.

Urgent Threat to Polar Bears

New satellite data just revealed that polar bears’ Arctic ice melted to a new record low this summer–retreating from areas at the edge of the Arctic Ocean where polar bears most need the ice to hunt for seals–and leaving many of the bears desperate for food.

Every summer, a portion of Arctic ice melts and then forms again in the fall, but the ice ismelting earlier and melting more now than any other time on record. In fact, the area of Arctic ice that melted this summer was an incredible 49% above the average from 1979 to 2000. The additional ice that melted is an area nearly double the size of Alaska.

In the face of the urgent threat polar bears, we must ensure that voters hear whether candidates running for Congress or the Presidency support using more clean energy and setting strong limits on carbon pollution to address climate.

Polls are showing that undecided voters–who the candidates want to sway–care deeply about climate change. Make sure climate change is once again in the national spotlight, so that voters can find out which candidates plan to fight climate change before they cast their ballot.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2012/10/turn-up-the-spotlight-on-climate-for-polar-bears/feed/268306America’s Hunters Ask: Where are Clean Water and Healthy Wetlands in the Election Discourse?http://blog.nwf.org/2012/10/americas-hunters-ask-will-the-vice-presidential-candidates-debate-clean-water/
http://blog.nwf.org/2012/10/americas-hunters-ask-will-the-vice-presidential-candidates-debate-clean-water/#commentsThu, 11 Oct 2012 20:16:57 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=68038Tonight, Congressman Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden will engage in a primetime debate on foreign and domestic issues. We remain hopeful that among the many important topics raised tonight will be a discussion of the protection of America’s air, land, water and wildlife. Unfortunately, we typically need to dig deeper to find the candidates’ positions and conservation agendas—which is why I was thrilled to see an interview with Congressman Ryan in Outdoor Lifelast week, in which he spoke about several conservation issues (including whether he supports the sell-off of public lands).

For me, the highlight of the interview was the statement Congressman Ryan made in support of the virtues of the Clean Water Act—which for four decades has not only led to more drinkable, swimmable and fishable waters for millions of Americans, but has also played an important role in protecting vital wildlife habitat.

“The Clean Water Act has been helpful too, in making sure that wetlands are protected so that there’s more than a one-for-one replacement in some instances. That’s a good thing. We believe that wetland conservation is a critical part of conservation. Don’t forget that hunters are the best conservationists there are in America.”

Duck hunting in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

As someone who loves to hunt and fish, this sentiment is music to my ears. In reality, the Clean Water Act has not only been “helpful” for protecting wetlands across the country, it has been the primary tool for states and the federal government to stem the tide of decades of wetland loss. And America’s hunters and anglers certainly recognize the necessity of healthy wetland habitat for the future of our pastimes and traditions; in fact, recent NWF poll data indicate that they overwhelmingly support strong Clean Water Act protections, even for headwater streams and small wetlands.

Unfortunately, Congressman Ryan has recently cast several votes that would only serve to weaken the Clean Water Act.

This year, he voted against an amendment to the House Energy & Water Appropriations bill that would ensure headwater streams and wetlands enjoy full Clean Water Act protections. The Moran amendment would have struck a policy rider included in the bill to keep the US Army Corps of Engineers from clarifying the definition of waters under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act.

And last year, he voted for legislation that would undermine the core of the Clean Water Act’s ability to protect waters and wetlands. Specifically, H.R. 2018 would prevent the federal government from promulgating water quality standards and would remove critical EPA permitting and oversight authority of dredging and filling of wetlands and waters.

Healthy wetlands mean better duck seasons.

To be fair, the Obama Administration doesn’t have a perfect track record of advancing Clean Water Act protections for wetlands and streams. Despite pleadings from the nation’s leading sportsmen and conservation organizations they have thus far left standing a Bush-era policy that allows developers to continue to drain, dredge and fill far too many wetlands and headwaters.

As duck season is opening across the country—and sportsmen and women are taking to the field with friends and families—many are reflecting on the quality of their outdoor experiences. Given the countless hours spent hip-deep in our nation’s wetlands, waterfowl hunters understand better than most what curtailing laws like the Clean Water Act would really mean. To the extent that both presidential campaigns want to compete for the support from hunters, anglers and other outdoor enthusiasts they should lay out a clear agenda on how they would better wildlife and wildlife habitat including through enforcing the Clean Water Act.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2012/10/americas-hunters-ask-will-the-vice-presidential-candidates-debate-clean-water/feed/168038The Only People Not Talking About the Weather are Running for Presidenthttp://blog.nwf.org/2012/10/the-only-people-not-talking-about-the-weather-are-running-for-president/
http://blog.nwf.org/2012/10/the-only-people-not-talking-about-the-weather-are-running-for-president/#commentsMon, 01 Oct 2012 13:10:29 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=67126Everyone is talking about the weather, except for two people who both happen to be running for president, as CBS points out in their article on why global warming matters in the election.

Governor Romney has varied in his position on climate change. He wrote in his book, “I believe that climate change is occurring” and “human activity is a contributing factor.” Then last year on the campaign trail that “We don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet.” In his Republican Convention speech last month, he cracked a joke mocking the need to slow the rise of the oceans. Like Mr. Obama, we do not have any indication how Mr. Romney proposes to address this worsening issue.

The Climate Question in the Presidential Debates

We just delivered over 150,000 petition signatures of Americans from across the nation to Jim Lehrer, the moderator of the first presidential debate, urging him to ask the candidates to lay out their positions on climate.

Millions of voters will get their information about the presidential candidates by watching the debates next month. It is crucial Americans hear where candidates stand on climate change before voting on November 6th. As we have seen all summer with fires in the West, drought in the Midwest, and flooding in the Southeast–climate change is wreaking havoc on wildlife and threatening future generations.